[1] The first specific mention of Rwanda was in May 1953 suggesting the expanding community of the Baháʼí Faith in Uganda look at sending pioneers to neighboring areas like Ruanda.
[7] The Baháʼís of Rwanda have continued to strive for inter-racial harmony, a teaching which Denyse Umutoni, an assistant director of Shake Hands with the Devil, mentions as among the reasons for her conversion to the religion.
Three of the tablets mentioned taking the Baháʼí Faith to Africa, but was delayed in being presented in the United States until 1919 — after the end of World War I and the Spanish flu.
Thou seest how black darkness is enshrouding all regions, how all countries are burning with the flame of dissension, and the fire of war and carnage is blazing throughout the East and the West.
[5] The regional National Spiritual Assembly of Central and East Africa was established in 1956, with its seat in Kampala, and embraced Uganda, Tanganyika, Kenya, Belgian Congo, Ruanda-Urundi, and other areas.
[14] Hand of the Cause Enoch Olinga represented the Universal House of Justice for the 1969 election of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of Burundi and Rwanda[15] with its seat in Bujumbura.
[13] Some Baháʼís from the United States have set up a non-profit organization, Orien Aid, to finding, empowering, and training youth for service, and also made a five-year commitment to work in Rwanda starting in 2003.
[23] Among the recent conversions is Denyse Umutoni, an assistant director of Shake Hands with the Devil,[8] national coordinator of a public awareness program on social issues called Cineduc (Youth Education Through Cinema), a project funded by DED and UNICEF, she set up after she organized the retrieval of 3000 bodies, including her parents, from a mass grave in 2004.